Darren Carrington Got Hot-Boxed

Aaron Fentress of Comcast Sports Northwest spoke with Darren Carrington Sr. – father of Oregon wide receiver Darren Carrington Jr. – for a story in which the elder Carrington says the younger did not smoke marijuana prior to being ruled ineligible for a failed drug test prior to last week's national title game against Ohio State.
(Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
"Carrington Sr., a former NFL defensive back, said today during a phone interview that his son did not actually smoke marijuana," wrote Fentress. "He merely was in a room with others who were, leading to him inhaling secondhand smoke and thus testing positive for having marijuana in his blood stream. Now he faces the prospects of missing several games next season, something his father hopes can be avoided."

Carrington Sr. went on to say during that interview he was disturbed by how the level of marijuana found in his son's blood – 15 nanograms, which is three-times the amount needed to trigger a positive test according to NCAA regulations – wouldn't have raised an eyebrow in other high-stakes venues.

"The NCAA threshold for testing positive is five nanograms, according to an article from SI.com. According to the same article, the NFL minimum threshold for testing positive is 35 nanograms, increased from 15 last summer. Major League Baseball looks for a minimum of 50 nanograms, which the article states is the same level for airline pilots. International track & field athletes are held to a level of 150 nanograms.

In other words, the airline pilots that transported the teams and fans to Dallas, Texas for the title game could have 10-times the amount of THC in their blood system than the participants in the game without facing disciplinary action."